SL by balloon

This is so unboatly, yet sooo amazing I just gotta blog it. I arrived at Tradewinds, - still full of airships, when I noticed something new on the round table: So there is a roasted turkey, a cute little blimp and there's Fizz Cup 2012 results, but look at the book:

The round table at Tradewinds YC

It's a real book, - several books actually, about the most amazing journey around all continents of Second Life in a balloon. Tasha Kostolany of Tradewinds did an interview with the balloonist, Dahlia Jayaram. Read it at the Tradewinds blog, where you'll also find direct links to Dahlias fantastic books;

If you always wondered just what is the Blake Sea, then here's a direct link to Dahlias journey around the Blake Sea area. It's full of pretty pictures and descriptions of the sights. If you just wonder what all this balloonatics are about, then here's a bit of an explanation...

And then it is back to sailing...

Smooth flying

Yesterday the sailing was bad. Still not sure what went wrong, but just a few hours later, the flying was very mooth, and somehow... it was related to the Fizz Cup too...

Smooth flying

So, how did I end up in a hot air balloon, you might ask... Easy enough: At Tradewinds most people  share an interest for building and sailing boats. Turns out Liv, the commodore, has a soft spot for (identified) flying objects. Aka planes and airships.

Balloon show at Tradewinds

This is probably how it came to be that after the live-aboard boat show, there is an airship show going on. The shot above is me heating up the balloon before "going to sea" in it. Never did this in RL, so I am on uncharted grounds here.

Ready for take off

So, - ready for takeoff? Let's see what this balloon can do. Push the pgup key, and the burner bursts into a roaring flame right above my head. I quickly shut it down and the balloon silently lifts and begins to drift eastward towards the light house. This is nice, but uhm... where's the controls?

Controls?

Phew; The winds kinda blew me right south off light house. Good. Now, - never mind the controls. What comes up must go down, and this thing is no exception. If I wanted to spend the night sitting on that yellow buoy I could probably have done that, but I decided to start the burner again... 

Reckognize this?

Perhaps I burned a little too much fuel here, cause the balloon went up pretty fast and the next thing I looked at was this ugly bugger parked over the clubhouse. Anyone reckognize it? Luckily the wind was blowing me away from the beast...

A much better view

Ahh... much better... I wonder if I can hit the island out there... if not, I can always use a parachute. If I can find it in my backpack. Parachuting is fun, but this post here is about the airships... Let's get back to the show... Err... arrow keys don't work. Oh how weird: Typing help seemed to actually help. There is a hud with buttons for controlling the balloon. 

Steering west

This is too easy... I can just click west, and the balloon flies westward... here we are approaching the clubhouse again. Note the other (dark) balloon in the back. Ok, so we have a hefty controllable seabreeze at Tradewinds, hehe.

More balloons in the back

There's loads of airships at Tradewinds. Big, small, cute, ugly... any shape and form. Some are realistic, and others are completely cartoonic. Don't miss the show. It runs throughout November. And don't miss the Fizz Cup 2012 starting this weekend. Didn't file this under unboatly, because an airship is a ship, so this is a boatshow... with a twist.

Many more details on Tradewinds website

More seaplanes

There's nothing like a quiet morning at Tradewinds, watching the sun come up. Talk about stress-relief.

Morning

There's even more planes now. The backyard is now full of planes too. They're all over - all the way to Balduins boat yard.

The backyard

The north end is also almost full of aquaplanes and seacopters. Overall I counted more than fifty fantastic flying sea planes.

North end

While I was counting, - an old friend popped out of nowhere. It was Steavano Angel. I told him about my heli and before I knew it, he put me in the drivers seat of this:

Steavano's heli

That was fun. It's actually a little easier to fly than my new heli. Turns out Steavano is a boy with many toys, so we also went for a ride in this lil thing here:

Booh!

It's a Drusilla Saunders C-90 King Air. This plane is much more like a simulator. Not only does it come with passenger seats in the cabin and a copilot seat in the cockpit. The amount of tiny details is massive. It also has an impressive dashboard, and there's a hud with like a million controls.

Air Tradewinds

If you are into flying, you can catch a glimpse of the cockpit gizmoes, dials and instruments in last picture of this post. Thanx for flying with Air Tradewinds, and now back to sailing.

PS: I'd really wanna try a glider. RL as well as SL. I wonder if I can find one.
PPS: And how about iceboating?

Inspired by the seaplanes

I met Manul at the Seaplane show. He was playing with an RC tricopter of sorts. It looked like fun, so I asked for the address of the shop. Minutes later I found myself in a shop full of helicopters, and...

Tradewinds Seaplane Show

... here I am, sitting in the miniscule cockpit of my latest toy. Oh no! Nonono! Don't even think this blog will evolve into a flying blog; It's a seacopter - or whatever the term is... it can land on water, so it's a kind of a boat in some weird way, right?

Up, up and away

Anyway, I started the thing up and sure... up it went. Pretty darn easy, except I didn't really know who was in control. I sure wasn't.

Tilt forward to go forward

Ok, that's high enough for a first flight, thank you very much. Where's the chute? Better check the manual. Fast... Ahh, a little forward tilt and it moves forward. Easy peasy.

Loosing altitude?

Ooops, - there seems to be a catch: Tilting forward apparently also means loosing height. It's a good thing this thing floats. More power, more power...

I got the power

Got the altitude stabilized. I think. Sorta, but now I am floating sideways. Let's see if it can be steered with the arrow keys...

Woohooo

That worked well, except I mostly just rotated and now the lighthouse is coming a little too close. This is gonna be spectacular. I really hope Harbourmaster Ahab isn't watching... 

Got the "hang" of it

Luckily, I missed the lighthouse! This shot is hours later... I kinda got it figured. It's not nearly as easy as it looks. Which makes sense. My dad always says the funniest thing he ever tried was flying a helicopter.  Then he adds, - and the most difficult. Me, I'll stick with sailing. That's where I feel at home, even though flying and chuting is fun.

Woohoo - I am flying!

I've posted quite a few times on the Flying Fizz; This here is a little break - with some  real flying. Yes, you can fly in SL too.

Just jumped...

So... I went flying with a friend. Talking boats of course, but then he had to leave. I had no idea where we were, and for fun I just said, so chute me!

Woohoo - I am flying!

Shouldn't have said that? Oh, yes indeed. It was a beautiful day for a jump. Chute on the back, door open and 3, 2, 1 - I was airborne.

Pull!

I wasn't really dressed for the occasion. No goggles. Just a sweater and jeans, so after a short while I pulled to reduce the windchill factor.

Sunshine, peace, - and Smetana!!?

Such relief. It worked, and all of a sudden I was hanging there in complete silence and sunshine. So nice. Dunno why, but Smetanas beautiful "Die Moldau" came to mind. Sadly, I forgot to bring my iPod.

Whoopsidaisy... all water?

Then reality struck! I looked down and saw nothing but water. Time to look for some land. Ok, there is an island over there... Kinda covered in haze, but let's see what's there...

On approach...

Wasn't really easy to see much... Ooops, a house. Let's avoid that. Yuck... is that a swamp? Don't wanna go down there. Uncharted area here... I mean there could be crocs.

Found a spot!

Oh great... there is a garden. Let's go for that. This looks wonderfull. If only I can avoid that gate over there, and the little pond, and those trees, nono not the bench, this thing clearly lacks flaps... and touch down...

Made it...

Ahh, landed. Here I am, - ehm, where am I? This place looks beautiful. Except maybe the haze makes it a little spooky. If I was out playing with a WWII sub, this is where I'd break the surface to get supplies or to land a spy. Well, I am not.

Thanx for flying!

I am more of a Fizz Fanatic, and I am gonna have to go explore here someday, - when the forecast says sunshine. Perfect place to sail for a picnic... sailing the Flying Fizz from Tradewinds to here will be fun...  and that's really the end of this lil flight.  This is your captain speaking. Hope you enjoyed the flight, - and please fly with us again.

Amazing Tradewinds

Tradewinds Yacht Club is an amazing place. There are always sweet people to hang with, and there is always something going on. Currently TYC hosts a Sea Plane Show. Usually the TYC events are carefully planned and carried out. The sea plane show is no exception. Naturally, there is a glider available, so you can get that flying feeling whilst looking at the planes. For free. Here's me hanging over the show...

Tradewinds Seaplane Show; Me above. Note the island out there.

I must admit, I never really had any interest in sea planes, but now... whoa! So many planes. So many sizes, shapes and details. Where do they all come from? And then there is this glider. Must it be sailing related? Perhaps it is. A glider is the ultimate ride on the wind. Understanding the wind is key to a sailboat racer, so there you have it... See that little island there on the left side of the photo?

Flying over the island - only a few hundred meters out.

I saw it. Up close. Not a lot of upwind out there, so I could barely make it back. Still it is too short a trip to fire up a sea plane; Besides, the difference between a glider and a plan is kinda like the difference between a sailboat and a powerboat... Silence versus rrrroooaarrrr. Easy choise.

Barely making it home again...

Lets get back to TYC. Home sweet home... I almost got my feet wet, - or whatever hits the water first, when ur in this position, hihi. Uhh... I wonder what the water temperature is at TYC. Anyways, go see the show. Sit in all the planes. It is great fun. Oh, and don't forget to glide around in complete silence, - only hearing the waves and the seagulls... If only I could attach my hairdrier to the screen to feel the wind ;-)